Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta has an international reputation as a distinguished expert in technical areas
such as lasers and amplifiers, nonlinear optics, fiber technology, ultrashort pulses, and noise in optics.
He is author or coauthor of many publications, in particular of over 100 articles in scientific journals, over 120 presentations at international conferences, and of several books and book chapters.
Also, he is the author of the well-known Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology.

Dr. Paschotta originally started his career in scientific research.
In 2002, he achieved the habilitation at ETH Zürich and received the Fresnel Prize of the European Physical Society (EPS) in 2002.
Despite his success as a researcher (see his CV with publication list), in 2004 he started the company RP Photonics Consulting GmbH in Zürich, Switzerland.
(The company moved to Bad Dürrheim, Germany, in 12/2010.)
His full-time occupation is now to serve companies in the photonics industry worldwide.
Typical tasks are to work out feasibility studies and designs for lasers and other photonic devices, to identify and solve technical problems, to find suitable laser sources for specific applications, and to do tailored staff training courses on specialized subjects.
Dr. Paschotta enjoys to be involved in manifold industrial projects with a great variety of both technical aspects and types of services, and regularly achieves very high levels of customer satisfaction.

Short Summary

who always tries hard to understand very clearly both the technical details and the practical requirements

who is doing his best to maintain a very high reputation in all respects, in particular concerning the clarity of understanding and communication, uttermost efficiency in accomplishing complex tasks, and highest reliability

extensive experience with industrial development projects and systematic methods to achieve efficient progress

highly developed analytic capabilities, used for problem assessment, structuring of information, comparison of options, etc.

steady further improvement in all areas by permanent monitoring of results

Research Experience

01/1992 to 09/1994: doctorate at the University of Konstanz, Germany, in the group of Prof. J. Mlynek.
Obtained the Ph. D. degree with "summa cum laude" (highest distinction) for work in quantum optics (squeezed light) and nonlinear optics.

10/1994 to 01/1997: post-doc in the Optoelectronics Research Centre, Southampton, UK, with Prof. A. C. Tropper and Prof. D. C. Hanna,
working on fiber lasers, upconversion lasers, laser spectroscopy, laser modeling, ultrashort pulse generation.
After that period, a fruitful research collaboration was continued for many years with the mentioned persons and others in the institution.

02/1997 to 10/1997: post-doc at the University of Paderborn (Germany), with Prof. W. Sohler, working on quasi-phase-matched integrated nonlinear optical devices.

11/1997 to 06/2005: leader of a research group in the Institute of Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, within the group of U. Keller, working on all-solid-state picosecond and femtosecond lasers, mode-locked high power lasers, mode-locked semiconductor lasers (VECSELs), nonlinear frequency conversion of ultrashort pulses, laser noise, computer modeling in laser physics and nonlinear optics.
In her official report of Jan. 2002, concerning R. Paschotta's habilitation, Prof. Keller wrote: “I consider him as the best scientist in this field within his peer group world-wide and he has been my best post-doc I have had so far. Presently, he is in charge of eight graduate students in my group and everybody is speaking very highly of him and enjoys working with him.”

Since 07/2005: further scientific work (not related to ETH Zurich) while working as a technical consultant (see below).

Publication Record in Numbers

More than 100 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals (>30 of them as first author)

More than 125 talks at international scientific conferences (15 invited talks)

5 books (including the Ph. D. dissertation)

5 book chapters

The by far most well-known publication of Dr. Paschotta is the Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology, a freely accessible encyclopedia for photonics and laser technology.
It is also available as a two-volume book.

Staying Involved in Science

Despite having left an academic position, Dr. Paschotta continues to stay active in the scientific world.
In this way, he stays fully up to date in a wide range of topics and maintains useful relations.
See the list of recent publications.

Further Scientific Research

Dr. Paschotta remains actively involved in academic research, maintaining relations to various research groups and working in joint projects.
This will be apparent from further scientific publications.
For example, an article on resonator designs for optimum beam quality of lasers has been published: R. Paschotta, Opt. Express 14 (13), 6069 (2006).
Another one treats the noise properties of mode-locked fiber lasers: “Timing jitter and phase noise of mode-locked fiber lasers”, Opt. Express 18 (5), 5041 (2010).

Observing the Scientific Literature

Dr. Paschotta continues to regularly read a number of scientific journals in the areas of laser physics and development, nonlinear optics, fiber technology, and alike.
Also, he attends scientific conferences in order to stay fully up to date in laser research.

Acting as a Referee

Dr. R. Paschotta serves as a referee for scientific journals like Optics Letters, Optics Express, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review A and E, Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Applied Optics, Applied Physics B, Optics Communications, Journal of Lightwave Technology, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, and IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.
So far, more than 180 referee reports have been delivered with the aspiration of supporting the scientific community with fair and well balanced judgment.
Also, Dr. Paschotta occasionally reviews applications for research grants.